Anirudh, I never meant that we ought to have contempt for non-human creatures, or that we should be INDIFFERENT to their suffering. All I mean is that, as the problem stands in India today, there is no choice but to eliminate a major chunk of stray dogs, if not the entire population. Stray dogs WERE sweet and affectionate. But, paraphrasing you, IN THE PAST. The relationship WAS harmonious, when we had only two or three stray dogs in a large area, not when 10 of them prowl every bylane & gully. There is a big error in the conviction that dogs bite only on provocation. I have SEEN dogs bite people WITHOUT ANY provocation whatsoever. Otherwise, their teeming presence would not have generated such universal phobia & abhorrence. Honestly, marauding stray dogs are NOT one tenth as friendly & harmless as animal lovers assert. Strays fed by local residents maybe so, but only as long as they are scarce & alone. & only with those who feed them. Once their no. crosses a certain limit, they become bold, aggressive, hostile, violent, & unpredictably dangerous. Even crafty & cunning. They evolve hitherto slumbering skills of attacking other animals & people, of obtaining food, of controlling the environment around them. The ruthless struggle for DOMINANCE was SUPRESSED when we had just a couple of dogs around. Once they start forming packs, they develop specific group dynamics, since originally they were pack hunters like wolves. Many undesirable patterns of behavior resurface, never expected before. They lose fear of men, learn how to form networks, position members strategically, & actually draw up a proper plan of action to attack other animals & human beings!
If a wolf or tiger killed a man, NO ONE would want ALL wolves or tigers to be exterminated. WHY? Why is there no move for mass extermination of hyenas or jackals or snakes? Or bulls, which kill people not infrequently? Why does nobody want cats, or cows, or pigs, or monkeys, to be eliminated? That is bcoz the NATURE OF THE PROBLEM is different. These creatures do not create the unhealthy environment which stray dogs do. Scorpions & spiders can be VERY dangerous, but apart from practical difficulties, no one wants them to be eliminated, bcoz they DO NOT pose the menace & threat which stray dogs do. Nature has NOT designed stray dogs to co-exist with men in such large, uncontrollable numbers.
No sensitive person enjoys the sight of an animal being electrocuted or buried alive. It is very unfortunate that this is done. Perhaps, it is a necessary evil? One way out is to adopt & ensure properly humane methods of inducing (painless) death. By PRIVATE agencies. With private funds & donations. I oppose the idea of mass euthanization, vaccination & sterilization by the govt. as national policy or law, bcoz I think it is INJUSTICE to spend CRORES on welfare of (22 MILLION) stray dogs in a country where a woman dies every 7 minutes in childbirth due to lack of medical facilities. Where people are starved & desperate enough to sell their own children to procure food. Where 300 million people r still illiterate. Protection of strays against human cruelty, their vaccination & sterilization, maybe a PRIVATE effort. I would NEVER demand the government of a country as poor as ours, to deflect funds from human resources to animals. That is okay in countries like the USA, which have enormous surplus wealth & a very high standard of living. They can afford it. We cannot. Not at this stage of development.
Once people are taken care of, animals shall be taken care of too. Man first, animals next. In any choice between men and animals, I will chose human beings. Regarding humanity itself, I DO see why you are so discontented with mankind. But you are NOT seeing the process of civilization, the evolution of society, the movement of history, the total picture, Anirudh. You are TOO unhappy about Man. There is no cause for SO strong an anger. If glory existed in the past, it can be resurrected in the future. All I can say is that one ought to view human nature in a more positive light. I am writing a book on genocide. I KNOW what human cruelty & evil is. But that does not make me forget that, in the ultimate analysis, Man is a SPLENDID creature. He maybe Hitler or Nero or Attila, but he can also be Shakespeare, Joan of Arc, Albert Einstein, Aurobindo, Michelangelo, Louis Pasteur, & Socrates.
